millietime
Songster
Ok so I have been looking through these forums for months as this behavior has been on and off and nothing seems to help. This is Betty and her eggs are the huge bulbous ones in front (next to normal size xl eggs). The eggs are not double yolked, just huge. I got her about a year ago and was told she was maybe 1.5 yrs. She was one of my first hens so I am pretty new at this. Last summer she layed almost everyday like clock work. Last fall she molted and winter I had to deworm the flock. Since then she lays about half her eggs soft and half are bulbousy with shell but will have weak spots. She lays maybe 3 per week now. I feed eggshell and oyster shell. I just checked her vent again and it looks normal. She eats and drinks normally. She is kind of the bully in the flock (always has been).
The tab at the base of her tail is caked with dirt so I am going to bathe her in the morning when it is warm. On a side note she is generally filthy as she does not dust bathe like the other birds, she rolls in it like a dog or cat rubbing into something. No mites, no lice, no fleas that I can find.
I bring this up because I have noticed that her behavior such as the rubbing in dirt has gotten stranger over the past few months also. She will sleep walk and get up making chattering noises after they go to bed. A lot of times this is when she has a soft egg but not always.
Any thoughts? I am starting to wonder if she is a lot older than I had thought and if this could have something to do with aging. Or recently I heard ovarian cancer? No vets that I have been able to find here but I just posted on another forum to see if anyone on byc knows of a vet in my area.
She hunches down and is extra irritable when laying a soft egg. Otherwise she does not act sick or in pain.
Thanks!
The tab at the base of her tail is caked with dirt so I am going to bathe her in the morning when it is warm. On a side note she is generally filthy as she does not dust bathe like the other birds, she rolls in it like a dog or cat rubbing into something. No mites, no lice, no fleas that I can find.
I bring this up because I have noticed that her behavior such as the rubbing in dirt has gotten stranger over the past few months also. She will sleep walk and get up making chattering noises after they go to bed. A lot of times this is when she has a soft egg but not always.
Any thoughts? I am starting to wonder if she is a lot older than I had thought and if this could have something to do with aging. Or recently I heard ovarian cancer? No vets that I have been able to find here but I just posted on another forum to see if anyone on byc knows of a vet in my area.
She hunches down and is extra irritable when laying a soft egg. Otherwise she does not act sick or in pain.
Thanks!
